Williamsburg-James City County Schools are experimenting with a new initiative to better connect parents and teachers on student issues.
Beginning with the 2014-2015 school year, WJCC middle and high schools will host Parent Conference Nights. During the events, parents will be able to schedule appointments with teachers to address concerns, answer questions or speak on other student issues.
A parent can meet with a teacher at a different date and time by request, and teachers can request conferences be scheduled with families of particular students.
With the introduction of Parent Conference Nights, the traditional Back to School Nights will be discontinued at the middle and high school levels. Information that would have been distributed at Back to School Nights will now be posted to the ParentVue and StudentVue apps. Elementary schools in the district will be unaffected.
The district currently plans on hosting two Parent Conference Nights — one for middle schools and one for high schools. The middle school event is scheduled for Oct. 23, and the high school event will be held Oct. 30. Both nights will run from 4 to 7 p.m. Each school at the two levels will host an event during its assigned date.
Although this is the first time the district has scheduled specific events for parent-teacher conferences, it is not WJCC’s first experience with the meetings.
Until last year, parents were able to meet with teachers during the district’s annual Back to School Night, Director of Public Relations & Engagement Betsy Overkamp-Smith said. She said the scheduling did not allow for the most constructive conferences. Due to the tight scheduling, parents had no opportunity to discuss student-specific issues with teachers.
“In recent years, we have heard feedback from teachers and parents about the effectiveness of Back to School Night at the middle and high school levels,” Overkamp-Smith said in an email. “Because parents would follow a modified schedule during the evening, each session was very short and often rushed.”
Overkamp-Smith said parents would be able to use the information posted on the Vue apps, along with interim reports, to decide whether to schedule a conference.
Additional information for each school’s Parent Conference Night, including telephone numbers for setting up conferences, will be available in early October.
Overkamp-Smith said the district will ask parents, teachers and administrators for feedback after the events to determine whether adjustments should be made in the future.
